Philip R. Sellinger is co-chair of the firm’s Global Litigation Practice and founding chair of the firm's New Jersey office.
From 2021 to early 2025, Philip served as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Under his direction, the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office achieved international prominence in fighting cybercrime; reached landmark corporate criminal and civil resolutions, and aggressively prosecuted securities fraud, insider trading and market manipulation; public corruption, money laundering, fraud against government and private health care plans, government contract and customs fraud, unlawful kickback schemes, violent crime, and civil rights violations.
During his time as U.S. attorney, Philip also served as chair of the Department of Justice’s E-Litigation Advisory Council, vice chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee’s Civil Rights Subcommittee, and a member of both the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee’s White Collar Crime Committee and Corporate Criminal Enforcement Working Group, which authored a voluntary self-disclosure policy that set a nationwide standard detailing the circumstances under which a company will receive credit for disclosing misconduct.
Prior to his appointment as U.S. attorney in 2021, Philip founded and managed Greenberg Traurig’s New Jersey office and served as co-Chair of the firm’s Global Litigation Practice. A former Assistant U.S. Attorney and New Jersey federal clerk, Philip has more than 30 years of trial experience and has led litigation teams in a wide variety of class actions and other complex cases in state and federal trial courts and appellate courts, including the New Jersey Supreme Court, around the country. He has served as Chair of the Lawyers Advisory Committee to the New Jersey federal judiciary and as a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court Civil Practice Rules Committee. He served as the founding chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Class Action Committee. He has represented the American Corporate Counsel Association and the New Jersey Corporate Counsel Association in litigation challenging the right of in-house counsel to appear in court. He has appeared as amicus counsel in the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of 29 top-ranking former senior U.S. military officers and civilian Department of Defense officials.
Philip has written dozens of articles and lectured extensively around the country before the American Corporate Counsel Association, The American Bar Association and various state and local corporate counsel and other bar associations. He sits (or has sat) on the boards of several organizations including the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the American Jewish Committee, the Atlantic Legal Foundation, and the foundation for the New Jersey Network (NJN). He has also been consistently recognized as a leading lawyer by legal publications and directories. Chambers and Partners USA has ranked him Band 1 from 2007-2021, and he has been listed in Best Lawyers from 2005-2022, and Super Lawyers from 2006-2020.
Philip received his B.A., summa cum laude, from University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and his J.D. from New York University School of Law, where he was Articles Editor of the Annual Survey of American Law.
The attorney is providing legal services through and affiliated with Greenberg Traurig, LLP, a New York Limited Liability Partnership. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Judicial Clerkships
•Hon. Anne E. Thompson, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, 1979-1980
Recognition & Leadership
Awards & Accolades
•Recognized, New Jersey Legal Awards, 'Lifetime Achievement,' 2025
•Honoree, NJBIZ ICON awards, 2025
•Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation; Insurance Law; Litigation - Environmental, 2005-2022
•Listed, Super Lawyers magazine, New Jersey Super Lawyers, 2006-2021
•'Top 100 Lawyers in New Jersey,' 2013
•Listed, Chambers USA Guide, Band 1, 2007-2021
•Listed, The Legal 500 United States, Commercial Litigation, 2015-2020
•Team Member, The American Lawyer’s “Regional Litigation Department of the Year - New Jersey,” Finalist, 2019
•Honoree, The New Jersey Law Journal, 'New Jersey Trailblazer' Award, 2019
•Listed, Benchmark Litigation
•“Local Litigation Star,” 2020-2022
•“National Litigation Star,” 2019
•Listed, Insider NJ’s “Insider 100,” 2021-2024
•Team Member, U.S. News - Best Lawyers, Best Law Firms Edition, “Law Firm of the Year,” Banking & Finance - Litigation, 2017
•Recipient, Leader in Business Award, Morris County Chamber of Commerce, 2015
•Recipient, Honorary Doctor of Law Degree, Rabbinical College of America, 2014
•Recipient, American Jewish Committee Learned Hand Award
•Recipient, Arts Horizon Celeste Holm Humanitarian Award
•Leader of Winning Team, New Jersey Law Journal's “ Class Action Litigation Department of the Year, ” 2016
•Team Member, Lexology’s Client Choice Award USA & Canada, United States: New Jersey, 2013
•Rated, AV Preeminent 5.0 out of 5.0
